Grid-Interactive Buildings
Coordinated control of HVAC, water heating, and electric vehicles to provide fast demand flexibility, reduce peaks, and improve reliability.
University of Central Florida • Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
Qun Zhou Sun
Associate Professor
I research in smart grids, grid-interactive buildings, and stochastic control for resilient power systems. I lead the ubiquitous Grid Interactive Things (uGIT) Lab and collaborate with utilities and industry to bridge theory and deployment.
About my name: My full name is Qun Zhou Sun. Over the years, I used a few variations of my name because it is hard to pronounce. Recently, I decide to return to my original name — Qun. You can either say it as Ch-win (the correct pronunciation) or call me Quin in English. My full name pronunciation is /ch-win/ /j-oh/ /s-win/.
Smart Grids
Demand Response
Optimization & Control
Grid Edge
Email: qzsun@ucf.edu • Office: HEC 358 • Orlando, FL
Research
Cyber-Physical Security
The cyber and communication aspects of grid-interactive things. Anomaly detection, secure control, and fail-safe operation for grid-interactive controls.
Probabilistic Modeling & Forecasting
Probabilistic modeling of power systems, buildings, and intermittent resources to account for inherent modeling uncertainties.
Transmission Grid Integration
Power flow analysis, the impact of demand side resources on transmission system reliability and economics, regulations and policy implications.
Selected Publications
A compact list. Link to a full list or Google Scholar below.
A Stochastic Controller for Primary Frequency Regulation using ON/OFF Demand Side Resources
Frequency RegulationDemand ResponseStochastic
A Control Framework to Enable a Commercial Building HVAC System for Energy and Regulation Market Signal Tracking
BuildingsHVACOptimization
Real-time Flexibility Quantification of a Building HVAC System for Peak Demand Reduction
Flexibility QuantificationBuildingsPeak Demand Reduction
Full list: Google Scholar
Teaching
Laboratory
uGIT Lab
We research at the intersection of the power grid and consumer dynamics to improve the efficiency and security of allocating and consuming electrical energy. We study, design, and build algorithms and hardware towards this goal. website coming soon
News
Aug 2025: Our collaborative paper on using buildings AC systems as virtual batteries for load shifting is accepted by IEEE TPWRS. Paper
Contact
Email: qzsun@ucf.edu
Office: HEC 358, University of Central Florida
Orlando, FL 32816
For prospective students: please email with a brief CV and interests.